Container with clip for storing and carrying trimmer line strips

ABSTRACT

A container for carrying and storing articles incapable of possessing a lug thereon, e.g., monofilament trimmer line strips, to be connected to a clip includes a tube having an open end and a closed end and a cap removably secured to the tube at the open end. A lug is positioned on the cap and is removably attached to a clip. The clip is also removably attachable to a belt, strap or other clothing of a user to enable the user to obtain immediate access to the articles in the container when in the field.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a package or container having a clip attachedthereto. More particularly, the invention relates to a package forstoring and carrying articles such as trimmer line strips, the packagehaving a clip for ease of carrying the trimmer line strips within thecontainer. Specifically, the present invention relates to a packagehaving a clip attached to the cap or the tube of the container forcarrying the package on a belt, strap, or other article capable of beinggripped by the jaws of the clip, including clothing worn by the user, sothat the articles contained therein are readily available to the usewhen needed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Grass, brush and weed trimming devices, utilizing a cutting element inthe form of segments or strips of plastic string trimmer line, havebecome popular for trimming lawns and other landscapes. Most of thesetrimming devices, often referred to as trimmers, are electric orgas-powered, hand-held devices employing a rotatable hub or trimmer headmounted onto a carrying handle so that the user can utilize the trimmeris a standing position. In older versions, the cutting element in thesetypes of trimming devices was typically in the form of several feet ofnylon or other plastic monofilament line wound on a storage reel withinand carried by the rotating trimmer head. A few inches of themonofilament line would extend outwardly from the head at one or twopoints through eyelets in the trimmer head and spin around the rotatingtrimmer head when in operation. Rotation of the head at relatively highspeeds (2,000 to 20,000 RPM for example) caused the line to strike andcut the grass, brush and weeds in the path of the spinning line. Cuttingof grass, brush and weeds eventually causes the monofilament line tobecome worn and abraded, and oftentimes, to break. In these older units,upon depletion or breakage of the line from cutting during operation ofthe trimmer, the line could be extended and replenished from the woundspool within the trimmer head until the line within the spool wasconsumed. Then, new monofilament line would have to be rewound onto thestorage spool and fitted through the eyelets before further trimmingcould take place. Such wound monofilament line has typically beenpackaged in wound form in either donut-shaped or circular packages.Examples of such packages are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,871,091,5,941,051 and 6,594,972.

More recently, string trimmers have been developed that require shorter,fixed lengths of the flexible plastic monofilament line. Typically,these strips of monofilament line are made of nylon or other hardplastic just like the longer length spool-wound monofilament line.However, these strips are only about 6 to about 20 inches long,depending upon the size and type of trimming device employed. Also, theycan have a wide range of cross sectional diameters depending upon theirintended use. Smaller diameter monofilament strips are often used forintermittent home lawn use and are typically from about 0.05 inches toabout 0.1 inches in diameter. Commercial and industrial trimmerstypically use larger diameter monofilaments, typically on the order offrom about 0.1 inches to about 0.155 inches or greater.

Notwithstanding the diameter of the monofilament, all plasticmonofilament line, whether short strips or long wound lengths,eventually wear out or break with use. When the monofilament stripsbreak or wear to a point near the rotating head on which they aremounted, they must be entirely replaced individually, unlike the woundspools that can just be extended such as by a “bump and feed” mechanism.

Oftentimes, replacement of the line must take place in the field duringuse. Therefore, strips of monofilament trimmer line are often carried bythe user in case the need arises where he must replace the worn orbroken trimmer line with a new one.

Heretofore, the packages in which the trimmer line strips are sold havenot been conducive to being carried by the user in the field forreplenishment if needed. Many prior packages for trimmer line strips (asopposed to lengthy spool wound trimmer line) on the market today are inthe form of a tube with one end open and the other end crimped andsealed closed, much like a conventional tube of toothpaste. The pinchedtogether, crimped end may further include a “hang hole” punched throughthe sealed portion of the crimped end for ease of displaying the packagein stores and the like. Other packages may have a closed end that is notpinched, which enables the tube to maintain a consistent shape from openend to close end.

These trimmer line strips packages also include a cap to plug the openend of the package. This cap is typically nothing more than a plughaving a downward extending flange rim that contacts either the insidesurface of the tube with its outer surface or the outside surface of thetube with its inner surface. Upon multiple uses, it is not uncommon forthe container tube or cap to stretch and lose contact with itscounterpart surface for providing the closing seal to the package.Moreover, where the closed end does not include a “hang hole,” one maybe provided in the cap, typically provided within a flange extendingaway from the closed end.

Still another type of trimmer line strips package can be found in U.S.Pat. Nos. 5,871,091 and 5,941,051. Again, however, this type of packagemay provide a “hang hole” defined by a flange extending from thepackage, but the package does not provide means by which the user canreadily carry the trimmer line strips when operating and using a trimmerdevice.

Thus, the need exists for a package or container that can be usedeffectively to store and carry the trimmer line strips in the field forretrieval upon consumption of the trimmer line strips used in thetrimming device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, a aspect of the present invention to provide acontainer suitable for storing and carrying trimmer line strips in thefield during use of a trimming device.

It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a container, asabove, that can be clipped to a belt, strap or other article on the userfor carrying purposes.

It is yet another aspect of the present invention to provide acontainer, as above, which has a removable clip for securing thecontainer to an article such as a belt or strap.

It is still another aspect of the present invention to provide acontainer, as above, which is capable of being hung by the clip for bothstoring and carrying purposes.

At least one or more of the foregoing aspects, together with theadvantages thereof over the known art relating to trimmer linepackaging, which shall become apparent from the specification anddrawings that follows, are accomplished by the invention as hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In general, the present invention provides a container for carrying andstoring one or more articles incapable of possessing a lug thereon to beconnected to a clip, the container comprising a tube having an open endand a closed end, the tube containing the one or more articles; a capremovably secured to the tube at the open end, the cap including a lug;and a clip removably attached to the lug of the cap and removablyattachable to a user.

Other aspects of the present invention may be provided by a containerfor carrying and storing one or more articles incapable of possessing alug thereon to be connected to a clip, the container comprising: a tubehaving an open end and a closed end, the tube containing the one or morearticles; a cap removably secured to the tube at the open end; a strapattached to the tube, the strap having a lug disposed thereon; and aclip removably attached to the lug of the strap and removably attachableto a user.

Still other aspects of the present invention may be embodied in thecombination of a plurality of trimmer line strips for use in trimmingdevices with a container comprising a tube having an open end and aclosed end, the tube containing the plurality of trimmer line strips; acap removably secured to the tube at the open end, the cap including alug; and a clip removably attached to the lug of the cap and removablyattachable to a user of the trimmer line strips.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a complete understanding of the objects, embodiments and structurefeatures of the present invention, reference should be made to thefollowing detailed description and accompanying drawings wherein

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container embodying the concepts ofthe present invention having a clip attached to the cap of the containerand showing an article, namely, trimmer line strips bundled therein;

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the container of FIG. 1, butwith the clip in position for attachment to the user;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of thecontainer having the clip attached to a strap affixed to the container;

FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of the container of FIG. 1, withthe clip in a position for storage and display;

FIG. 5 is an exploded, partial perspective view of the container andclip of FIG. 1, with the clip separated from the container; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the container and ofthe clip attached thereto.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

One representation of a container embodying the concepts of the presentinvention is generally designated by the numeral 10 in FIG. 1. Thecontainer 10 includes a tube 12 and a cap 14, with a clip 16 attached tothe cap 14. The container 10 may be used to store and carry any of anumber of articles known in the art, including, preferably, a pluralityof trimmer line strips 18, for retrieval in the field where a user mayneed to access them.

The tube 12 may be of any size and shape known in the art but preferablyis large enough to display, store and carry several individual strandsor segments of plastic monofilament trimmer line strips. Currently, itis most common for manufacturers to include from about 5 to about 15strips in each container. Such plastic monofilament trimmer line strips18 may be of any size or shape known in the art, but preferably range insize of from about 6 inches to about 20 inches in length and from about0.05 inches to about 0.155 inches in diameter. The cross sectional shapeof the monofilament strips can be of any configuration known in the art,with the most common shapes being round, diamond-shaped and star-shaped.The tube 12 should be small enough to enable the user to adequatelycarry the container on his belt or other part of his clothing withoutundue burden and without becoming a distraction to the user whilecarrying the container.

In the preferred embodiment, the tube 12 is cylindrical having adiameter of from about 0.5 inches to about 2.5 inches, and a length offrom about 6 inches to about 12 inches. The tube 12 is preferably madeof clear plastic so that the article(s) being stored and carried thereincan be seen by the user and/or purchaser. The plastic tube may be eitherflexible or rigid depending upon the desires of the manufacturer. Thetube 12 may also have indicia on it for sale and display of thearticle(s) therein, such indicia typically including printed labelsrelating to the article(s) contained within the container 10.

The tube 12 includes one end 20 that is open and an opposite end 22 thatis closed. The closed end 22 is preferably manufactured from the samemold or forming process as the cylindrical sides of the tube 12 to beintegral with and a part of the tube 12. The closed end 22 may form thebottom of the container and is relatively flat or concave to allow thecontainer to be placed on a flat surface such that the closed end 22 ofthe tube 12 is the bottom of the container resting on the flat surface.

The open end 20 of the tube 12 is defined by the sidewall of tube 12 andreceives the article(s) to be stored and carried by the container 10.The open end 20 is operatively covered by the cap 14 so as to preventthe contents of the container 10 from being spilled or otherwiseinadvertently removed. As shown in FIG. 6, a flange 24 may extendradially outward from the open end 20 of the tube 12. The flange 24 ispreferably made from the same material as the tube, but may be a harderplastic to ensure a rigidity to the open end 20 of the tube 12.

The cap 14 may be of any shape known in the art, but should conform insize to the specifications of the tube so as to completely close off theopen end 20. Where a cylindrical tube is used, the cap should also becylindrical in shape for at least that portion used to completely coverthe opening. Thus while the top of the cap may have a differentconfiguration, the sealing portion of the cap 14 should also becylindrical.

In a preferred embodiment, the cap 14 is of the type that extends overor is fitted over the flanged edge of the tube. Thus, the cap 14includes a flat top 26 and a rim 28 extending downwardly from theperiphery of the top 26. The rim 28 slides over the tube 12 such thatits inward surface abuts or faces the outer surface of the tube 12.

With particular reference to FIG. 6, it can be seen that the preferredcap 14 has a rib 32 extending downwardly from the underside of the capinto the opening of the container such that the outer surface of the rib32 and the inner surface of the tube 12 contact and abut one another. Agroove 30 may be incorporated in the top 26 of the cap 14 complementaryto where the rib 32 is set forth on the underside of the cap 14.

In addition to the rib 32, a second rib 34 may extend radially inwardfrom the rim 28. This second rib 34 enables the cap 14 to be removablysecured to the tube 12. When the cap 14 is in the closed position, theupper side edge of the second rib 34 will abut the lower side edge ofthe flange 24 on the tube 12 to prevent removal of the cap 14 from thetube 12. The extending edge of rib 34 may or may not contact the outersurface of tube 12. To take off the cap 14 and open the container 10,the user pulls the rim 28 away from the side of the tube 12 such thatthe second rib 34 extends pass and over the flange 24.

In the preferred embodiment and as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the cap 14also includes a lug 36 securely fastened and attached to the rim 28 ofthe cap 14. The lug 36 is used to attach the cap 14 and, thereby, thecontainer 10, to a clip, designated generally by the numeral 16 in thedrawings, as more particularly described hereinbelow. The lug 36 may beof any form known in the art and used with standard belt clips such asthose described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,597,102 and 6,578,745, the entiredisclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

More particularly, the lug 36 includes a base 54 molded or otherwisesecurely attached to the rim 28 of the cap 14. It is conceivable thatthe lug 36 may be integrally made a part of the cap 14 during theprocess of manufacturing the cap 14, and if this is the case, the base54 may or may not form a part of the lug 36. The lug 36 further includesa neck portion 56 and a head portion 58. The neck portion 56 ispreferably round and has a diameter corresponding substantially to thewidth of a slot 60 in the clip 16 to be explained hereinbelow. The headportion 58 has a diameter greater than the diameter of the neck portion56 and greater than the width of the slot 60 in the clip 16.

Generally, the clip 16 has a front member 42 and an opposing rear member44. Between them is a u-shaped spring metal plate 46 that is attached tothe rear side of the front member 42 and is also attached to the frontof the rear member 44. Upon pressing the rear member 44 at one end,referred to herein as the pinching end 48, in the direction toward thefront member 42, the other end, referred to herein as the opening end50, of the rear member 44 moves away from the front member 42. A belt,strap, or a piece of clothing or the like may then be inserted into thegap created between the opening end 50 of the rear member 44 and thefront member 42. Upon interrupting the pressing of the pinching end 48,the spring metal plate 46 pulls the front member 42 and the rear member44 together to firmly hold the clip 16 on the belt, strap or clothing.

Removal of the clip 16 from the belt or the like requires pressing onceagain the pinching end 48 of the rear member 44 to cause the separationbetween the opening end 50 of the rear member 44 and the front member 42to again form a gap therebetween. The clip 16 may then be moved awayfrom the belt or the like, and then the user may cease the pressing ofthe rear member 44.

Also, as best viewed in FIG. 5, the front member 42 of the clip 16includes a lug receiving slot 60 defined by a U-shaped extension 62extending from the front member 42. The U-shaped extension 62 isdesigned such that there is a gap between the hidden faces 64 of theU-shaped extension 62 and the frontal face 66 of the front member 42.That gap should be wide enough and deep enough such that the headportion 58 of the lug 36 can be slid between the faces 64 of theextension 62 and the frontal face 66 of the front member 42. Asmentioned above, the slot 60 should have a width that is substantiallyequal to or slightly larger than the diameter of the neck portion 56 oflug 36.

Thus, when a user wishes to place the container 10 onto the clip 16, thehead portion 58 of the lug 36 is placed into contact with the frontalface 66 of the front member 42 as shown in FIG. 5. The clip 16 is thenslid into the lug 36 by sliding the clip 16 in the direction of arrow68. Alternatively, the lug 36 may be slid into the slot 60 such that theneck portion 56 of the lug 36 is slid between the faces 64 of theU-shaped extension 62 and the head portion 58 of the lug 36 is slidbehind the faces 64 of the U-shaped extension 62, against and adjacentto the frontal face 66 of the front member 42.

Once the lug 36 reaches the end of the slot 60, a spring-activatedprojection 70 locks the lug 36 into place onto the clip 16. The lug 36may include an annular flange 72 defining a depression in the middle ofthe head portion 58 that engages the projection 70 to lock the lug 36 tothe clip 16. However, while securely fastened, container 10 is stillpermitted to rotate while in the slot 60. Thus, the container 10 is notrigidly affixed to the clip 16, but can rotate as necessary uponmovement of the user. To release the container 10, a spring actuator 74is pressed, which pulls the projection 70 back into the clip 16 andeliminates the projection 70 from extending beyond the frontal face 66of the front member 42, thereby enabling the lug 36 to be slid out ofthe slot 60 in the direction of arrow 68.

An alternative embodiment of a container is designated generally asnumeral 80 in FIG. 3 of the drawings. Here, the clip 16 may be connectedto container 10 by alternative means. More specifically, the clip 16 maybe attached to container 10 by a lug (not shown) located on a strap 82wrapped around the tube 12 rather than on the cap 14. It is envisionedthat the strap 82 could be a hard plastic and snap fit onto thecontainer 10, if desired. Thus, strap 82 would not have to completelyencircle the tube 12. Operation of the clip 16 with the strap 80 wouldoccur in generally the same manner as described hereinabove.

Thus it should be evident that the container of the present invention ishighly effective in storing and carrying articles such as trimmer linestrips for use in the field. The user can effectively carry thecontainer on his belt or other piece of clothing or equipment in amanner that is not inconvenient or distracting to his activity.Moreover, the articles needed are readily available and at his disposalin the field should the article(s) in use become depleted or otherwiseconsumed. Thus, the present invention acts as a dispenser of articlesafter purchase and while in the field.

The invention is particularly suited for use by lawn care and landscapepersonnel who use strips of monofilament cutting line in their trimmingdevices, but is not necessarily limited thereto. Other articlesrequiring a container of the type set forth herein are also contemplatedby the present invention. However, the present invention expresslyexcludes articles such as telephones, pagers, knives, and the like, andcovers therefor, that can be attached directly to the clip without theneed for a container. That is, the container of the present invention isused to store and carry articles incapable of having a lug set attachedto them in a manner suitable for attaching them directly to a clip.

1. A container for carrying and storing one or more articles incapableof possessing a lug thereon to be connected to a clip, the containercomprising: a tube having an open end and a closed end, the tubecontaining the one or more articles; a cap removably secured to the tubeat the open end, the cap including a lug; and a clip removably attachedto the lug of the cap and removably attachable to a user.
 2. Thecontainer according to claim 1, wherein the articles are monofilamenttrimmer line strips.
 3. The container according to claim 1, wherein thetube is cylindrical.
 4. The container according to claim 1, wherein thetube is made of clear plastic.
 5. The container according to claim 1,wherein the cap is fitted over the open end of the tube.
 6. Thecontainer according to claim 1, wherein the cap has a downwardlyextending rim and the lug includes a base securely attached to the rimof the cap.
 7. The container according to claim 1, wherein the clip is abelt clip.
 8. A container for carrying and storing one or more articlesincapable of possessing a lug thereon to be connected to a clip, thecontainer comprising: a tube having an open end and a closed end, thetube containing the one or more articles; a cap removably secured to thetube at the open end; a strap attached to the tube, the strap having alug disposed thereon; and a clip removably attached to the lug of thestrap and removably attachable to a user.
 9. The container according toclaim 1, wherein the strap is removable.
 10. The container according toclaim 1, wherein the strap is made of hard plastic and can be snapfitted to the tube.
 11. In combination with a plurality of trimmer linestrips for use in trimming devices, a container comprising: a tubehaving an open end and a closed end, the tube containing the pluralityof trimmer line strips; a cap removably secured to the tube at the openend, the cap including a lug; and a clip removably attached to the lugof the cap and removably attachable to a user of the trimmer linestrips.